Seven-Note Chords
by Mike D. Zachary, D.M.A.

The term seven-note chord does not mean a chord with seven different notes. (For example, the G major triad contains three separate notes, G, B and D. The G7 chord contains four separate notes, G, B, D, and F.) Here, we are not speaking, then, of a chord with seven distinctly different notes. Instead, we are referring to a chord that is played with both hands as shown in the examples below:



In each of the examples above, the right hand is playing four notes; and the left hand is playing three notes. This is the classic version of the seven-note chord. If you consider these notes from the top note down, you will see that no note of the chord is skipped.

Consider the C major triad that is shown first in the example above. The notes of the C major chord are C, E and G. If we consider the notes of the C major chord in descending order, we get C, G, and E. If you consider the C major chord in the example above from the top note down, you will see the order shown is C, G, E, C, G, E and C. The left hand is positioned so it is as close to the right hand as possible.

Some hymn playing teachers refer to this as chord matching. When they use the term matching, they mean that the left hand plays the same chord as the right hand (it matches) and the left hand plays as close to the right hand as possible. [1]

Features of the Seven-Note Chord

The seven-note chord is an excellent chord for hymn playing because it has a beautiful, full sound. As we improvise piano accompaniments for church playing, we need to have several “tools in our toolbox” that generate rich, full sounds; and the seven-note chord certainly has that ability.

The seven-note chord has a particularly nice resonance because of the fact that the very top note of the chord is the same pitch class as the very bottom note of the chord, and this note is also found symmetrically located an octave below the highest pitch and an octave below the lowest pitch of the seven-note chord. In the following example, the three black notes illustrate this feature.

It seems particularly pleasant to hear the highest pitch repeated as the lowest pitch, and it is very pleasant to the ear that this pitch is also found in the middle of the chord. As we will see below, the seven-note chord is used in a way that seems to reinforce the melody; and its structure makes ideally suited for this task.

Inversions of the Seven-Note Chord

In an earlier volume of this series, we introduced triad inversions. Seven-note chords can also be inverted. Though I do not take the space here to show the inversions of every major and minor triad, every serious pianist should become comfortable with all these inversions. The inversions of the C major triad are shown below:

Using the Seven-Note Chord in Hymn Playing

When you use seven-note chords in hymn playing, you need to know two items: (1) What chord is being used, and (2) what note is “on top,” that is, what is the melody note. In the first example below, you see a C chord with a G “on top.” The seven-note chord that would be used here would be the C major triad arranged so that G is the highest-sounding tone. Notice the example on the following page:

Likewise, if you were using an F major triad with an F as the highest-sounding tone, you would use a seven-note chord based on the F major triad with F on top as shown in the example below.

Using the Seven-Note Chord in Hymns

When you encounter notes in hymns that last two beats or longer, you probably have a natural urge to play something as a fill in instead of just doing nothing. In situations like this, seven-note chords are excellent to use. In the example on the following page, you see two versions of “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” The first version is shown in four-part harmony from the hymnal. The second version is shown with (1) the four-part harmony converted to the basic hymn style, [2] and (2) seven-note chord used as fillers when chords are being held for two beats or more.

When pianists first begin to use this style, they tend to have a strong feeling that they are going great distances back and forth on the piano; and they sometimes tend to lose their place as they move higher to play the seven-note chord and then move lower to go back to the middle range of the piano to continue playing the hymn. You should not be discouraged if it takes you quite a bit of practice before you become comfortable with this style because the results are well worth it.



In the second line of the example above, you will notice the numbers from 1 to 4 in the music. The following comments refer to those numbers.

At 1, the previous chord is an F major triad with F as the highest-sounding note. The seven-note chord is an F major triad with F on top.

At 2, the previous chord is an F major triad with A as the highest-sounding note. The seven-note chord here is an F major triad with A on top.

At 3, the previous chord is a G minor triad with Bb as the highest-sounding note. The seven-note chord here is a G minor triad with Bb on top.

At 4, the previous chord is an F major triad with A as the highest-sounding note. Because this chord is a whole note, you have an opportunity to play three seven-note chords in order to fill in the beats of the measure. It would be too boring just to play one seven-note chord three times in a row, so we here play through the chord inversions. Special Note: Though it takes some advance planning, there is a custom commonly encountered in gospel music that makes the last chord of the series the chord that has the same note on top as the melody note. If you examine this measure carefully, you will notice that the whole note is an F major triad with A as the highest-sounding note and the last seven-note chord is an F major triad with A as the highest-sounding note.[3]

A Note About Performance with Seven-Note Chords

Using seven-note chords in this fashion creates two “levels” of playing. The first level is the basic hymn itself. The second level contains the seven-note chords. The pianist must remember that the hymn itself is more important. When pianists first work on using seven-note chords, they often give them “a good whack,” playing them far too loudly to be appropriate. The reason for this, of course, is that most pianists are uncomfortable with this when they first begin; and they bang inelegantly because they feel awkward, not smooth. Though these seven-note chords should be rich and full, they should not overpower the hymn itself.

Care must also be taken to play the chords of the hymn without drastically varying the volume. If you were to sing the phrase, “When I survey the wondrous cross,” you would not make some of the words drastically louder to produce an effect like this: “When I surVEY the WONdrous cross.” However, pianists who are first learning to insert seven-note chords often drastically vary the volume of the hymn itself because they are uncomfortable playing chords higher and lower on the piano; the back and forth motion sometimes tends to make them lose sight of the hymn they are embellishing. Pianists must practice very carefully to ensure that they can negotiate this back-and-forth motion so fluently that the hymn they are playing is heard as being beautifully embellished, not dreadfully battered!